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"Uh… sir, we have confirmed that there are three commandeered starfighters heading toward the main reactor.""Strengthen our defenses."

―A B1 battle droid and the T-series tactical droid commander of the supply ship at Umbara[src]

A Separatist supply ship and its droid crew could be overseen by a single tactical droid.

Initially a corporate vessel, the Separatistsupply ship was converted as a model of transport craft by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It was 908.78 meters long and 910.35 meters tall, while its armoredhull and barbell shape afforded a width of 1257.32 meters.[1] It was armed with point-defense laser cannons[1] but also relied upon other ships for protection.[6] Its body housed a number of hangar bays, which could carry multiple C-9979 landing craft, each of which had a wingspan of 149 meters and a twenty-four-meter height.[3] The main hangar, accessible via an aft entry, was located in the midsection of the ship's starboard hemisphere and was equipped with ceiling cranes and other equipment for cargo loading and storage. At the end of the main hangar was the ship's reactor core room, which was protected from outside access by ray shielding.[6]

The Separatist supply ship served as a heavy transport in the Confederate Navy during the Clone Wars,[1] fulfilling the Confederacy's needs by compensating for the insufficient cargo capacity of other craft such as the Lucrehulk-class battleship.[7] Originally a corporate transport, the supply ship was converted for wartime service in the Confederate Navy,[1] proving to be a more dedicated cargo carrier than other vessels.[7] It became a valuable combat asset during lengthy conflicts due to its massive size and capacity, which allowed it to serve as a transport for C-9979 landing craft and their troops, the battle droids of the Separatist Droid Army.[3] Yet it primarily contributed to the Separatist war machine by supplying arms, power supplies, and other matériel—for example, long-range missiles—to organic defense armies like the Umbaran militia.[1] Supply ships could be employed in campaigns from orbit, providing weaponry and supplies to ground forces on the planetary surface, while their isolated position in space would allow them to be defended by warships of the Confederate Navy.[6]

The supply ship initially served as a corporate vessel until being repurposed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars, becoming an integral part of the supply chain of the Confederate Navy. As more member worlds contributed their organic-based armies to the Separatist war machine, supply ships were used to support them during campaigns against the Galactic Republic, meeting a variety of replenishment needs, in addition to ferrying detachments of the Separatist Droid Army to the front lines. Due to its new role, it became known as the Separatist supply ship,[1] or alternatively the Separatist support ship[8] or Separatist transport.[1] Late in 21 BBY, the second year of the war,[5] the Confederate world of Umbara was subjected to an invasion by the Grand Army of the Republic. In response to the Republic 501st Legion's capture of an airbase that had been supplying the defenses of the capital city, the Confederate Navy provided the native Umbaran militia with a Separatist supply ship, with a large fleet of Confederate warships defending the transport. The vessel, commanded by a T-series tactical droid, remained in orbit and was used to rebuild the Umbarans' supply lines to the capital, providing the city's defenders with shipments of long-range missiles and other arms.[6]

The Confederate armada defends the supply ship over Umbara.

A fleet from the Republic Navy targeted the Separatist supply ship to sever the capital's supply lines, but the flotilla was unable to destroy the vessel due to being outclassed in strength by the Confederate armada. During the battle over Umbara, Advanced Recon CommandoFives and two 501st clone troopers, Jesse and Hardcase, undertook an unsanctioned mission to destroy the supply ship. They joined the space battle in stolen Umbaran starfighters, using them to slip past the supply ship's defenses,[6] as the battle droid crew was unable to identify that they were not friendlies until too late.[1] Once inside, Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase piloted their starfighters through the main hangar, intending to blow up the ship by rupturing its reactor core. While the ship's droid crew attempted to defend their vessel from the clonetroopers, the tactical droid commander activated the reactor chamber's ray shields, forcing the three soldiers to resort to other means. Hardcase manually walked one of his starfighter's missile pods through a service door into the reactor room, sacrificing himself by driving the missile pod into the reactor. The resulting explosion consumed the supply ship and its crew and lit up the Umbaran skies; it could even be seen from the surface through the clouded atmosphere. The supply ship's destruction[6] enabled the Republic to conquer the capital and thus retake Umbara.[9]

Around 20 BBY, the war's final year,[11] Dooku brought along a pair of supply ships as part of an invasion fleet targeting the planet Scipio, the headquarters of the InterGalactic Banking Clan. Upon arrival at Scipio, Dooku had his forces obliterate the Republic's on-world clone trooper garrison and then proceeded to the surface, leaving the super tactical droidKraken in command of the supply ships and the rest of the fleet. Just as Jedi GeneralAnakin Skywalker arrived with a fleet of Republic Star Destroyers to retake the banks, Dooku returned to his armada in orbit and ordered a retreat from Scipio, and the supply ships joined in the withdrawal from the battlefield by jumping to hyperspace.[12]

"George wanted to separate the Trade Federation vessels from the Separatist period, because something that's really come to light in The Clone Wars series is that George sees it as Separatists, Republic, and then in the middle is big business, the corporations. And he felt that the doughnut ships represented too much [of] the Trade Federation from Phantom Menace."

―Series Supervising Director Dave Filoni, on the decision to replace a Lucrehulk-class battleship with the new Separatist supply ship in "Plan of Dissent"[src]

In "Plan of Dissent," the supply ship aiding the Umbarans was originally a Trade FederationLucrehulk-class battleship. According to Series Supervising Director Dave Filoni, Series Producer George Lucas asked that it be changed to a vessel more clearly affiliated with the Separatists, to show that the Trade Federation was more of a neutral corporation in the Clone Wars. The result was the Separatist supply ship, with its in-universe connection with the Lucrehulk-class battleship being that the larger supply ship was more suited for the task.[13]